Cavendish wasn't immediately optimistic about his chances of continuing and was proven correct after medical examinations.

"I'm obviously massively disappointed to get this news about the fracture," Cavendish said after his fate was sealed by the doctors.

"The team was incredible today.

"They executed to perfection what we wanted to do this morning. I feel I was in a good position to win and to lose that and even having to leave the Tour, a race I have built my whole career around, is really sad."

Cavendish is heavily grazed after the fall that could end his tour (Image: TIMES NEWSPAPERS LIMITED)

Mark Cavendish nurses back to the finish line (Image: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier)

Sagan visited the Manx missile's team bus to apologise, but it didn't save him from being chucked off the Tour for dangerous riding.

And as Cavendish left for hospital with his arm in a sling and fearing his shoulder was injured beyond immediate repair, he glowered: “I'm not a fan of him putting his elbow in me like that.

“I need stitches in a finger and the shoulder – it's something to do with the shoulder I hurt in Harrogate (on the Tour's Grand Depart in Yorkshire three years ago). I'm not a doctor, but I'm not optimistic.“I was following Arnaud Demare's wheel and then Sagan came over. A crash is a crash, but I'd just like to know about the elbow.”

Later, in between hospital appointments, he added: “In terms of disqualification, that's the jury's decision. I've seen the replay and I'm not angry – I'm confused. I'm happy he came and saw me after the finish.

“I have a good relationship with Peter so I'm a little confused by the elbow.

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“I've done my shoulder twice before and I'm in more pain now than I was for one of them, so that doesn't make me too optimistic just on feeling.

“I'm going for more tests and if they don't show anything I'll try tomorrow, but I've got no movement and, ultimately, I don't want to be a hazard to the other riders.”

Mark Cavendish is knocked off his bike (Image: itvcycling/Twitter)

In a torrid finish to the 124-mile run from Mondorf-les-Bains to Vittel, Cavendish was gunning for the 31st stage win of his Tour de France career, and closing the gap on Belgian legend Eddy Merckx's all-time record of 34, when he smashed into the barriers 130 yards from the line.

Another Brit, ex-Team Sky rider Ben Swift, was sent somersaulting 10ft into the air over his handlebars in the carnage before French rider Demare held off Sagan's charge to win the stage.

Incredibly, just seconds earlier, in ANOTHER pile-up overall race leader Geraint Thomas had picked himself up unscathed after surviving his second crash in 48 hours in the Yellow Jersey.

At first, Tour bosses hit Sagan – a flamboyant rider with a rock-star image - with a 30-second time penalty.

But condemnation of the Slovakian was so overwhelming and hostile that within two hours they upgraded the punishment to disqualification from the entire race.

Sagan push Cavendish into the barriers (Image: itvcycling/Twitter)

Race jury president Philippe Marien revealed: “We've decided to disqualify Peter Sagan from the Tour de France 2017 after the tumultuous sprint here in Vittel.

“He endangered multiple riders, including Mark Cavendish and others who were implicated in the crash, in the final metres of the sprint.

“We applied article 12.104, irregular sprints, in which commissaires are allowed to enforce a judgement to disqualify a rider and amend a fine.”

Roger Hammond, sporting director at Cavendish's Team Dimension Data, tweeted a picture of the incident and said: “Causes a big crash... elbows fellow competitor in the head... can only result in one decision. #Goodbye.”

Cavendish, 32, only declared himself fit to ride on Le Tour last week after a race against the clock to recover from a bout of glandular fever.

Hammond said earlier : “My heart has sunk into my feet. These riders are like my children – that guy has worked so hard to be here.”

And another Dimension Data director, Rolf Aldag, raged: “This was not a race incident. Violence. Hard to DQ a world champion from Le Tour but needs to be done.

“If it's in the rule book that you can elbow someone with 200m to go, we need to rewrite the rules.”

Before his dramatic expulsion, Sagan gave his version of events, saying: “Mark was coming really fast from the back and after I didn't have time to react to go left, he just came to me and after to the fence.”

Swift, on only his second Tour de France appearance, said: “We were sprinting in a line and then all of a sudden there was a body on the floor.